On Reason, Work, and Goodness
Exploring the Introduction to "Plato's Critique of Impure Reason" by D.C. Schindler
For Aristotle, at the foundation of reason is a paradox: a principle beyond demonstration precisely because all demonstrations invoke said principle. Impossible to show, and equally as difficult to articulate, this “contentless” principle is the self-disrupting nature of reason. Again, for reason to be useful, it must always reach beyond and seek to undermine itself, to gain a more comprehensive grasp of the whole. This Aristotelian bedrock of reason is the “unhypothetical first principle”:
“The ultimate foundation of reason, then, will be a principle whose certainty stems from the very fact that it cannot be demonstrated, that is, because it lies at the basis of all other demonstrations. This unhypothetical first principle, Aristotle says, using the very words Plato uses to characterize the good, is what has become known as the “principle of contradiction”: the same attribute cannot at the same time belong and not belong to the same subject and in the same respect.”
Whereas Aristotle sees a contentless principle of contradiction at the basis of reason, Plato sees the good. Platonic goodness is, paradoxically, both a radical origin and convergence point for all being, desire, and reason. As we explored previously, the good in this sense is the energizing force of all human action. Platonic goodness is, in my estimation, closely related to the concept of value invoked in libertarian philosophy and Austrian economics. In order to walk from one side of the room to the other, an Austrian economist will tell you that the walker must value the other side of the room more than his present position. Similarly we could say, the walker must decide that being on the other side of the room is good, and to a higher degree than his point of origin. So while it may be tempting to conceive of the good as some sort of metaphysical entity, it seems to me to be purely a principle of human action, one that is foundational to the purpose-driven nature of a human being equipped with the power of reason. For this reason, reason cannot be explicated in words alone, and instead must be demonstrated to be communicated in a high fidelity way.
“As we will see in the Republic, the misologist can never adequately be answered by mere words alone, but only by words and deeds, by an argument that is itself an action. If reason does oblige us, its claims must be simultaneously said and shown.”
Since reason can only be adequately communicated through action, it requires work, and work requires time. In a purely physics sense, power is defined as the capacity to do work over time, and work is defined as force projected across a displacement (or, a space). Taken in combination, this means that power is force channeled across a distance over time. In other words, power is the capacity to move energy across spacetime. In this purely physics sense of the term power, I believe Nietzsche was correct in his assertion that life is, everywhere and always, a will to power:
“Even the body within which individuals treat each other as equals ... will have to be an incarnate will to power, it will strive to grow, spread, seize, become predominant – not from any morality or immorality but because it is living and because life simply is will to power.”—Nietzsche
Since life is intrinsically oriented, or perhaps programmed, by the algorithm of evolution to extend its dominion across spacetime, it must make use of power. Indeed, life is power, in the same way that it is a power struggle. This is the harsh Darwinian reality of life: the race against all countervailing forces, including other life forms, to expand one’s physical dominion. Organisms striving to reproduce and organizations attempting to grow—both are physical expressions of the Nietzschean will to power. Even money, valued for its purchasing power—its capacity to bring both human and non-human capital to bear—emerges naturally from humanity’s will to power. So, the good at which all life is aimed is inextricably bound to the harnessing and projection of physical power. This is why both evolutionary and technological advantages can be quantified by their capacity for physical power projection (h/t: Jason P. Lowery). Indeed, one may conceive of innovation as a form of non-biological evolution: both are shaped by the same algorithm of evolution, but differ in their effected substrates.
“… the response to the impoverished conception of reason that afflicts our age requires above all the recovery of the intrinsic relation between the orders of goodness and intelligibility… the response to the crisis of reason must therefore be the sort of intellectual patience—the suffering (patior) of the claims of truth, the enduring necessary for serious understanding—that Plato repeatedly urges in the Republic: reason is rooted in the good, and what is good or noble, he consistently reminds us, is always difficult.”
To be good, and to be oriented toward what is true, work is required. When it comes to money, nothing more perfectly embodies this truth than the innovation of Bitcoin, as it requires more work to produce it as its purchasing power grows. This is also why fiat currency doesn’t work, because it requires virtually zero work to produce, which explains its predictable demise by way of hyperinflation. “Easy come, easy go,” as the old adage reads. In biology, this unbreakable relationship between work and goodness is called “high cost signaling,” where, for instance, the expensiveness of the peacock’s tail-feathers demonstrates his fitness for the (good) purposes of obtaining food and performing sexually. In capitalism it’s called “putting your money where your mouth is.” And when it comes to money, it’s simply called “proof of work.” There simply cannot be a good money without proof of work, no matter what the sophistic shitcoiners or statists may say to the contrary. One simply cannot reason their way out of the reality of hard work—it must be demonstrated, and demonstrated well, to be good.
Be sure to check out the “Platonic Philosophy Series” where John Vervaeke and I take a ~10 hour deep dive into these essential topics:
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What does this mean "algorithm of evolution" ?